The way back to life
by karin.gustafsson.77
Summary: What would you do if you saw somebody on the edge off a bridge, ready to jump? Emma is a student in Korea and on her way home from a party she meets Seung gi, a troubled man with no will to live. She decides to help him get his life back. But will he accept her help and share his troubles or will he turn the other way? This is the beginning of a love story.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

**Emma**

"Emma, where are you going?" I could hear Seol say. She was standing righ behind me and as she talked she put her hand on my shoulder.

"I don't really feel like partying tonight Seol, I'm sorry." It was Friday and Seol, a friend from school, were having a party with a few of our friends. Everybody around me had a really great time, dancing and talking, but I just didn't want to party tonight. I was feeling rather tired and down so I had decided to just leave.

"Are you sure? It won't be the same if you leave!" I looked around. Nobody was noticing us by the door and I felt sure that nobody would feel bad about me leaving.

"Look I'm sorry Seol but I just have a lot on my mind tonight. I will call you tomorrow?" Seol sighed and then said: "Okay, be careful on your way home". She looked sad about me leaving but i couldn't help to feel relieved as I left her house.

It was dark outside and only the street lamps and the moon light up the road as I started to walk in the direction of my appartment. It was very cold outside. I could feel it down to my bones and I wrapped my jacket tight around me. As I breathed white smoke came out of my mouth. In hopes of staying warm I had put on my warmest pink cap and on my hands soft woolen mittons with small hearts before I left for the party. But I barely noticed the cold, I had other thoughts in my head.

I often heard from others that I was a warm and caring person when you got to know me. Many people who didn't know me thought I was a bit weird. I always dressed in colourful clothes, put on not that much makeup, but in colours like neon pink or turquoise, and put my hair up in complicated buns and such. When I was with others I used to laugh a lot, often to my own jokes, which people found strange. But even so, it was easy for me to meet new friends.

I was an exchange student at a school in Korea. I had been in Korea for almost two months and I had settled in nicely. I really loved the culture and people, it was very diffrent from where I grew up. I had met a lot of friends at school and Seol was the closest of them. From the first moment I met Seol I could feel as if we were going to be great friends. Seol was a very pretty and fun girl. She smiled a lot and we had the same, silly humor. She was very genuin and she weren't afraid of making herself look like a fool. Seol was very popular with the boys but she was never full of herself thinking that she was prettier than anybody else. I really liked that. I was so glad and thankful for my friends but sometimes I was feeling lonely. I was feeling homesick and I didn't feel like sharing my feelings that day and I didn't want to be a party-pooper making the party boring for everybody else and that was why I left so early.I was missing my family back in Sweden, I needed some alone time to think about them.

On the way from Seols house to my small apartment there was a park. It was a very beutiful place, or atleast I thought so. I was a small park with big trees along the edges of the park, with a small grass lawn in the middle. I used to imagine what the place would look like in the summer, with the big, green trees surounding the playing children and the grass welcoming everybody to lie back and relax on the soft green bed. Across the lawn were the small footpath which I walked on. On the sides there were a few, small parkbenches with doodle and scribble all over them. I looked up at the big trees. The branches were hanging down towards the ground, looking cold with the absence of leaves. I loved this place. I looked around, just thinking, when I suddenly realized it had started to snow. I looked up in to the big sky and saw small snowflaked falling fast toward the ground. It reminded me of home and I suddenly started to feel a little lighter in my heart. I kept walking and were soon out of the park.

I looked at my watch. **11.06**. I realized it was starting to get late and increased my pace. I was almost at home. I only had to cross a bridge, walk down one block and then there were my appartment. I was feeling tired and started thinking about my bed when suddenly I saw a black silhouette further down my way. At first I didn't think about it and looked away but I felt a weird sensation in my belly so I looked up towards the silhouette once again.

There, on the railing off the bridge, stood a young man. I had gotten rather close without him or me realizing the other person's excistance. My first impression was that he was handsome, but I didn't get a close look because I relized what he was doing. He was looking down into the water with a strange expression on his face. He held his right hand on his chest as if he was trying to feel his heartbeats. He then closed his eyes and moved his head upwards. I could see him take deep breaths. Suddenly I could the corners of his mouth move, and a smile lit up his face. I felt my heart start pumping really hard against my chest. "What were he doing?" I questioned myself. "Was he GOING TO JUMP?!" Fear gripped me and I started to panick. "What should I do?" My breathing became faster and I felt numb. My brain worked freneticly and I made a quick decision and quietly started to run towards the man.

**Seung gi**

Seung gi was completly alone. In the distance he could hear cars but otherwise it was comletly quiet. He stood on a bridge and looked down into the cold, black water which slowly moved way down there under his feet. He closed his eyes and moved his right hand to his chest, serching for his heart. He could feel the slow beats but on the inside he felt completly cold. He felt as if he was hollow and dead. He felt a tear fall down on his cheek. He closed his eyes and serched for his heart, or rather for his soul,he wanted to feel alive but unable to do so. He let out a sigh and slowly opend his eyes again. Once again he looked down into the black water. Suddenly he got an urge to climb up on the railing.

He slowly and carefuly started climbing up and as he did he started to feel something inside off him, He came up and now he stood looking down into the river. As he looked down he felt his whole body pump with adrenaline. He knew that only a small step forward would mean death. He put his hand over his heart once again and now he could feel it pumping and his whole body was reacting to the kick. He closed his eyes and let the feeling overpower him. It was a thrilling feeling filling his whole body. Even though he still couldn't find his soul, atleast he felt something. Slowly a smile played on his face.

He was so focused on this thrilling feeling that he could not hear the voice behind him calling. Suddenly he felt something grabbing him from behind; pulling him backwards with a force so strong he lost his balance and fell backwards. Fear gripped him as he fell and he felt as if everything moved in slowmotion. He closed his eyes waiting for the ground to hit him hard in the back.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

**Seung gi**

He felt as if he was floating through the sky, feeling the wind in his hair and hearing the sound of his fast heartbeats, fastened by the thrill and fear. But he didn't float for long. Soon he landed on his back, but it was not the hard ground he landed on, as he first had thought. Something soft made his fall safe. As he landed he could hear the person who had pulled him down inhaling deep and whimper.

Reacting in self-defence Seung gi quickly struck free from the other person, stood up and took a few shocked steps away from the person lying on the hard, cold ground. Who was it that tried to hurt him and why? His mind was full of suggestions that ranged from prankster to murderer. He was ready to run, if it was the latter, but when he looked at the person he was confused and taken aback.

There on the ground lay a girl, about 20 years old. The first thing he noticed was that she was foreign, somewhere from Europe by the looks of her. She was wearing a black body fitting jacket and a pink cap. He could see on the look of her face that she was in pain. She hold her hands towards her tummy and breathed heavily, gasping for air and from her nose there came blood which ran down her face and dripped to the ground.

Seung gi just stood there, staring for a moment as he felt all his fears disappear. She looked so pitiful there on the ground that he couldn't feel scared anymore and instead he started to feel angry and even more confused. "Are you crazy? What were you doing?!" he said with heated voice. At first the girl didn't answer, she was still trying to catch her breath. He then realized that maybe she didn't speak Korean at all, she was foreign after all.

Still, since he wasn't completely secure about his English, he asked her again in Korean. "What did you do that for?!" He was feeling angry but it started to wash away as he looked at her tormented face. It took a little moment for her to answer until she, to Seung gi's surprise, said with almost flawless Korean: "Why would you do something like that? There is always a solution, no matter how hard your life is! You can't just give up on such a precious gift!"

Seung gi felt confused. What was she talking about? At first he thought that she must be crazy, but when he looked at the scene from her perspective he realized what it must have looked like. "Did... Did you think I was going to jump?" he stammered. "Well of course. What else where you doing up there?!"

"I... I was..." he didn't finish the sentence; instead a silence fell between the couple. What was he doing up there? He couldn't find any possible way to explain it where he didn't sound insane. The girl looked up at him with big, worried eyes but when she saw his shocked face she instead asked: "Are you okay?" He came back to reality and answered: "yes... I think so..." He started moving his body looking for any hurt spot but couldn't even find a bruise.

When he realized he was alright he walked a few steps towards the girl and asked: "Hey... are you alright?" She didn't answer him. She was trying her best to stop the bleeding from her nose with her mitten. "Do you need any help?" Seung gi asked reluctantly and quietly. She still didn't' answer him, until she started to sit up. "Can you please help me to stand up, I'm feeling a little dizzy" she said to him with a strained voice.

Seung gi took a few insecure steps towards her and the reached out his hand to help her. She almost immediately fell down again at the same time as she said: "Ouch!" She had somehow hurt her right ankle in the fall and couldn't stand up without any help. Seung gi felt helpless. What should he do? He didn't even know this girl and but he still felt like he had to take responsibility for her. It was, unconsciously, his fault that she was hurt. She had only wanted to help him.

For a second Seung gi considered leaving her there, but he realized that she probably wouldn't last long in the cold weather, so he stayed and said: "I think you should go to the hospital. My car is not far from here, I will take you." She looked up at him, and for a second he thought he saw a glimpse of fear but he could be wrong. "No, I'm alright. Please just help me up again and I think I will be able to walk home from here." Seung Gi looked at her with doubt in his whole face.

He helped her up again and she tried taking a step but would have fallen again if not for Seung gi grabbing her waist. She was startled by the skinship but didn't protest when he took her arm around his shoulder and started to lead her towards his car. She realized that she had to trust him, even though he was a stranger, because she had no other to turn to at this moment.

**Emma**

I felt a strong pain in my ankle. When I had pulled the young man off the bridge I fell on my leg in a weird way which led to me not being able to walk without help. He was now helping me walk towards his car, with a promise to take me to the hospital. I felt very insecure; I was in a situation where I needed to trust a complete stranger. My first thought was to call Seol to have her help me, but I didn't have any battery on my phone. When I asked the man if I could borrow his he told me that he left his phone at home. So now my only option was to follow him and hope he didn't mean any harm. In a strange way I felt as if I actually could trust him, there was something in his eyes, a trustful look.

Suddenly he let go of my arm and started rummage his pockets. He picked up his car keys, pointed them at a car and opened the locks. It was a rather nice, black car. I couldn't tell the brand of the car but I saw that it was new and it looked rather expensive. He opened the front door and helped me in. Then he walked around to the driver's seat and sat down. I put on the seatbelt and then he started the car and slowly drove out onto the main road.

As we sat there I got a good look at the man. He was very handsome. He had black, rather long hair, with a few curls. His eyes were dark brown with long, pretty eyelashes. He looked very serious and concentrated as if his mind was working frenetically to understand the situation. Even though he was really handsome I could see his imperfections. He had dark circles under his eyes as if he hadn't slept enough. But the thing I noticed most about him was the sorrow in his eyes and expressions. He looked as if he was very sad, but tried to hide it to everybody else in the world. I recognized that look. I had been depressed not long ago and I could see myself in him. I could feel my interest for this man grow.

I wanted to know who he was and why he was so sad. I gathered up my courage and asked: "Excuse me but what is your name?" He winched as I spoke and then gave me a quick look. "Eh... I am Seung gi" he replied at the same time as he looked at me with doubt in his eyes. Why does he look so doubtful? I thought to myself before saying: "I am Emma by the way…" He nodded and concentrated at the road.

"Why do you keep staring at me? Please stop." He suddenly said. I realized my mistake, blushed but didn't budge when I said: "Sorry, I just... Are you really okay? You look a bit..." My voice cracked and I kept quiet. I could feel Seung gi's eyes on me so I stared down on my hands. "Look, I am really sorry for what happened tonight" he suddenly said. "I would be really grateful if you... you know... don't mention this to anybody." I looked at him feeling a little bit worried. I didn't know if I should reach out to him, or if I should let him be, but after some thought I decided to talk to him.

I gathered my courage once again and said: "You know, if you feel bad you shouldn't just keep it inside of you and do something stupid. You have to talk to somebody about it. To leave this world won't help you feel better; it will only make your life here in vain. The only way to solve something is to deal with the problem". I felt very ill at ease when I uttered these words, but it was something that was necessary for me to say, for his sake. I looked at him as I talked and I knew he was avoiding my gaze. He closed his eyes for a second before saying: "look I told you it's not like that, please stop." I sighed and looked out of the window. It was still snowing.

We came up to the hospital and Seung gi helped me out of the car and in through the doors. There he said: "I will pay for your hospital bill and then leave. You will be able to get home on your own right?"

"You don't have to pay for the hospital, I have mon..." he stopped me in the middle of the sentence saying: "It's my stupid fault you're in here so the least I can do is to pay your bill". Then he turned around walking towards the reception, trying to leave me behind.

"Wait!" I called. He turned around towards me again, with his eyebrows raised. "If you need to talk to someone, or if you need anything else, you can call me if you want." He sighed and shook his head before turning away again and walking away from me. I felt strangely empty as he left, as if I had lost something important, but I realized it was no use to call him back. He didn't want my help.

I was soon called in to the doctor who helped me. He told me to be careful, but my ankle was only sprained and I would be able to walk soon enough again. He wanted me to use crutches for the first week and then I could slowly start to walk again.

When I was done I walked out of the hospital, slowly since I was using the crutches. I looked at the watch. **02.32**. I felt very tired and decided to find a cab. It was still very cold outside, but it had stopped snowing. I looked up towards the sky. Up there I could see the stars pale luster.

I sighed once again and started to look through my pockets for money for the taxi. Then I realized something was missing. Feverishly I searched for it but I wasn't able to find it. My phone. I remembered having it when I met him. "Oh no! I must have dropped it in his car!" Crap. What was I going to do now?


End file.
